Tuesday 22 July 2008

The White Cliffs of Serendipity

This was Dover a few hours ago, seen from the cliffs. On a good day, and actually on bad days too, you see a lot of elderly couples, usually wearing funny hats and some white items of clothing, sitting there looking at the harbour. And if you don't believe me, look at this:









These being two different sets of couples! One of the things I like about going to my caravan near Dover is that there are a couple of places that leave books out in baskets, either for free or for a donation, so I end up getting stuff I wouldn't normally read, like Super Cannes by J.G. Ballard and a Seventies travel book by Ethel Mannin: An Italian Journey. I randomly opened it and the Gritti Palace just stared at me - being the place where Hemingway used to stay when in Venice. Last night we went to an Indian restaurant by the sea with fuchsia lights and golden pictures and I remembered a book my parents had, that was quite seminal in its own way, Kitsch; the world of bad taste by Gillo Dorfles, so I've decided to order it from America. I might scan some pictures for my posts when it arrives. I highly recommend it, if you are a connoisseur of bad taste.

1 comment:

sage said...

Kitsch--that sounds like a fun book to have written!